Reason to Live
by KaelynAnne
Summary: When Starr Manning arrived in Port Charles she was pregnant and alone until she met Matt Hunter who had a strict policy about not letting anyone get too close to him. After Starr's death, Matt is left with an unexpected gift and the burden of his grief.


Disclaimer: Callie belongs to me. All other characters are property of the creators of General Hospital and One Life to Live.

_"Come on, Starr, breathe for me. Breathe, damn it!"_

_Despite ten minutes of CPR the teenager still wasn't breathing. He called for the paddles and shocked her once but still didn't get her heart beating again._

_"Breathe, Starr. You have a little girl who needs you. Come on, sweetheart, breathe for me."_

_He shocked her again but she continued to flatline. "Starr, don't you dare die on me. Sweetheart, you have to breathe for me."_

Sitting in the chair outside of Starr's ICU room, Matt wiped his tears away. The sixteen-year-old had been the first one outside of the surgical team to fall victim to the biotoxin that had caused chaos in the hospital. She'd fought against it as long as she could, but in the end the deadly toxin had won out.

Starr had come to Port Charles eight months earlier with the name Ella Roskova. She and Matt had run into each other at Kelly's and despite his policy of never getting too close to anyone, he and Starr had formed an instant bond. Because of that close bond, she wound telling him what had brought her to Port Charles. Included in the explanation had been the story behind her fake name. Ella was the last part of the Spanish word for her name and Roskova was the last name of the great-grandmother that she had never met.

After six months, Matt had convinced her to call her mother and she had reluctantly agreed. Starr and Blair talked for several hours before Starr had handed the phone to him, telling him that her mom wanted to talk to him.

Blair Cramer had been polite but firm, telling Matt in no uncertain terms that she was entrusting him with her only daughter and she expected him to take good care of her then thanked him for giving Starr a place to stay.

Now he would have to call Blair and tell her that Starr had died. He couldn't imagine what the news would do to her. Losing Starr had devastated him and she wasn't his daughter.

"Matt?"

The soft, accented voice broke into his thoughts and he looked up to see Leyla standing in front of him, holding Starr's three-month-old daughter.

Matt let out a sigh as fresh tears spilled down his cheeks. Callie would never get to know her mother. She would never know how generous Starr had been or the wealth of her mother's information or anything else about her. All of that would be lost to her now and it was his fault.

Starr never should have been at the hospital that night. She wouldn't have been if he hadn't called her. If he'd been paying attention when he'd left the apartment, he never would have forgotten the set of notes that brought Starr to the hospital and she would be at home with her daughter right now.

"It's my fault," he whispered. He looked down, focusing on his shoes. He couldn't bear to look at Callie. To know that because of him her mother had been ripped away from her. "She never should have been here."

"You had no way of knowing what would happen, Matt. No one could have predicted this and you know Starr didn't mind. She loved you. You were like a big brother to her."

He shook his head, denying her absolution. He didn't deserve it. He deserved to live with the guilt.

"I could have done more to save her."

"Matt, stop it. There wasn't anything else you could have done. There was no antidote or magic cure. You did absolutely everything you could and Starr knows that."

"But Callie won't. Now she'll never get to know her mother. I took Starr away from her."

"No, you didn't. If Starr had lived, she wouldn't have blamed you for getting sick. You need to stop blaming yourself because you have a little girl here who still needs you."

Matt shook his head again. "I can't, Leyla. I can't be near Callie right now. I can't hold her or look at her."

"Why not?" she demanded angrily.

"Because I'll see Starr."

"You need to get over this right now. This guilt you feel is absurd. The only people to blame here are the FBI idiots who lost track of this insane project in the first place. Callie needs you, Matt. She needs you to take care of her and tell her about Starr."

Over his objections, Leyla knelt in front of him and placed the baby in his arms. "There's something you need to know."

"What?" he asked, dreading whatever it was she had to tell him.

"After she had Callie, Starr had a will drawn up. I didn't know until Alexis called but she left Starr to you."

"What? Why would she do that?"

"Because she loved you. You were her family here, Matt. And now you're Callie's family. She wants Blair to be part of her life, but you're her guardian."

Matt looked down at the little girl in his arms. Her light brown eyes were open and looking up at him curiously. For the first time in three days he found himself having a reason to smile.

Starr might be gone, but she had trusted her most precious possession to him and he would never be able to put into words what that meant to him. He pressed a kiss to Callie's forehead then said a silent thanks to Starr for believing that he could raise her daughter.

"I guess it's just you and me now, ladybug."

"You're wrong. I'm here, too, Matt," Leyla said, placing her hand over his. "I'll help you in anyway I can."

Matt looked at their interlocked hands, resting lightly over Callie, before he looked up at Leyla. "Thank you."

Now it was her turn to shake her head. "Starr and I were close too. I loved her and Callie just as much as you. We can do this together, Matt."

"Together."


End file.
